C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

07/13/2010 • 9:00 AM 0

Five Tips on Finding an Agent or Editor (and get published.)

1. Go to the bookstore.

2. Find books like your book.

3. Check the acknowledgements and the author’s website to identify their house, editors and agent.

4. Now you have some idea where to submit and a nice opening to your query letter. “I’m submitting to you because your association with of X’s excellent book…”

5. Check the agent’s website and make sure you confine yourself to their requested parameters for submissions.

BONUS:

Try to get a sense from their voice on their site. Does this person sound like someone you could marry? Yes. It’s that serious.

Filed under: agents, agents, editors, get published

07/12/2010 • 9:10 AM 0

Writing Rules Apply to You

Best story of my recent publishing conference? It’s someone else’s story so I’ll skim over the details. Long story short: Agents rejected a Margaret Atwood story. They didn’t know it was Margaret Atwood. We say it over and over:

PUBLISHING IS A SUBJECTIVE BUSINESS.

However, if you don’t follow submission guidelines, you hurt your chances. If you’re submitting to an agent, ignore the Writer’s Market books and go straight to the agent’s website. Follow their instructions as best you can. The rules apply to new writers. They apply to you. No exceptions. You’re trying to enter a business relationship with publishers and agents. Do not try gimmicks. White paper (or non-wallpapered email) and business forms. No pestering. No sense of entitlement.

Just submit, submit, submit.

Next post: HOW TO FIGURE OUT TO WHOM YOU SHOULD SUBMIT YOUR MANUSCRIPT.

Filed under: agents, writing tips, query letters, submissions to editors, submitting to agents

07/11/2010 • 9:34 AM 0

Marketing Through Twitter

I’m over 40 so I don’t make new friends. At least that was true until my wife got me an IPod for my birthday. Through Twitterific app, I kind of fell into marketing through Twitter. First I was curious what Bill Maher had to say. He hardly ever tweets, but then I was curious who he followed. I began following celebrities, particularly comedians and writers.

Then I hit the mother lode: freelance writers and editors like me. Then I hit the “Nearby” tab on Twitterific to find such people in my city. Then I linked my tweets to my blog so the blog has fresh content throughout the day whether I have time to sit down and blog or not!

And now I’m addicted, but enjoying it. I won’t be signing up for a 12-step program any time soon. Do you Twitter? You know what they say. The only people who don’t like Twitter are those who haven’t tried it.

Filed under: Publicity & Promotion, Twitter, Twitter

07/10/2010 • 9:19 AM 1

Kevin Smith on Writing

Filed under: Writers, writing tips, films, Kevin Smith, writing

07/08/2010 • 9:02 AM 0

Twitter Followers versus Facebook Friends

A guy had hundreds of Facebook friends and decided to throw a Facebook party. One person showed up and that was a stranger. Facebook friends don’t equate to real friends. Real friends don’t tell you they might show up to your party even though you’re in Toronto and they are in Vancouver.

Facebook is useful, but, just like your regular friends, not all of them are such good friends they will help you move. Your posts to Facebook are like posts to a message board. Twitter, by contrast, is a conversation. You can have Facebook friends and never visit their home pages. On Twitter, your followers get your 140-character messages pushed on their Tweet deck. Eyes are on you as opposed to Facebook’s Friend ’em and Forget ’em.

But from a purely marketing perspective, quantity isn’t really important. It’s about the quality of your friends and followers. Do your interests dovetail? If you’re marketing a book, your business or service, what’s your ROI? (ROI stands for Return on Investment.)

That’s what many businesses miss: a cost/benefit analysis. Are you spending too much time on your blog and not enough time writing? What time and money efficiencies can you find? Do you need to revamp your approach to social media marketing? Do you need to bring in a guest blogger or refocus your content and search engine optimization to get eyes on your page?

Think of your social media approaches as pipes that lead people back to your website. Your web presence is a package. Twitter is a conversation in which you can sell your services after you sell yourself. Facebook has more personality, but first you sell yourself before your services. Your blog isn’t a diary. It’s a magazine.

On your website, the pitch is still somewhat buried in that your provide value and interesting stuff first. Your call to action has to be there if you’re trying to sell something, but don’t come on too strong because people may find you through your website first. For special promotions or straight ads, consider a mini-website (one page dedicated to your hard pitch or a linking to a separate business website for more of the straight dope on your services and products.)

For instance, my separate (business) website is at the click of the happy pic at www.chazzwrites.vpweb.ca.

Filed under: Publicity & Promotion, Social Media, Twitter, Facebook, promotion, selling, Twitter

07/08/2010 • 8:27 AM 0

Stephen King on Stephenie Meyer Controversy

Filed under: Writers, controversy, Stephen King, Stephenie Meyer

07/06/2010 • 9:10 AM 0

The Proper Use of Examples

i.e. means that is.

e.g. means for example.

THUS:

I dress like a bad immortal from Highlander (i.e. all in black) therefore I am cool as far as I’m concerned.

My daughter says things that are apparently cool (e.g. “Cool beans” upon seeing or hearing something exemplary of its kind and wonderful) though I don’t know what such phrases’ origins could be.

Filed under: grammar, writing tips, eg, examples, grammar, ie

07/04/2010 • 9:30 AM 1

Five Tips for Better Blog Posts

In my last post I wrote about the time it takes to write a blog post. (More accurately: I wrote about the time it shouldn’t take.) There’s a faster way to add content to your blog and keep your readership happy. Here’s how:

1. You don’t have to spill your guts with every blog post. Save some expertise for the work your clients pay you for and make sure you don’t spend more time marketing than doing your actual writing (i.e. the writing that is your legacy.)

2. Every post doesn’t have to be deadly serious. Blog posts can be a (short) rant and funny stuff. too. Make sure you provide value and information to your readers, but vary the tone so you don’t come off as relentless.

3. Link to other blogs, videos, and information you find useful, funny or helpful. You do not have to write something fresh for your blog every day. Yes, establish yourself in your web presence. When your readers scan your blog, the voice in their heads should be yours. However, your readers will appreciate your use of your blog as more than a soap box. You are also a filter for information you think would tickle their brains. Link freely when you run across someone else’s brilliance. (And help your search engine optimization in the process, too.)

4. Link your Twitter posts to your blog. This blog has something fresh on it throughout the day as I find things on the feed that makes me laugh or think. Show your appreciation to your fellow birds with friendly tweets. Twitter is a conversation. Let your blog readers in on it and hope they’ll follow you there, too. (Look to the right for a taste. Find me on Twitter @RChazzChute, please.) And no, it doesn’t take long. I scan Twitter during commercials or at night when I struggle with my racing insomniac brain.

5. That’s four to-dos. Here’s a to-don’t. When you don’t have anything to say, don’t. Resist the urge to fill your blog with drivel. Because the word “blog” comes from web log, some people still think of it as a diary. If you’re Kevin Smith, you can do that, but, like Highlander, “there can be only one!” Don’t think of your blog as a diary. Think of it as a magazine.

BONUS:

In the words of one epublisher I met recently, “As soon as anybody tells me what they’re having on their bagel, they’re gone!”

It’s true. Not even Kevin Smith could get away with that. Probably.